Desktop CNC Router Machine 3018-SE V2 with Transparent Enclosure, 3-Axis Engraving Milling Machine for Wood Acrylic Plastics Metal Resin Carving Arts and crafts DIY

hi all. not sure who might read this but here goes. to make it clear i paid for this with my own money and i get nothing from fox alien (apart from product support). there is a reason why you are looking at this machine. You want to play. it is a great machine to start with. you can get the uncased one but i am a neat freak and it makes for easy clean up for me. You can do alot with this set up as is but i would suggest to upgrade the spindle if you want to do some heavy carving. swapping the spindle for a laser is a bit of a pain with the case but for me it is worth it.

the main question to me has been would i buy it again…. yes would i recomend fox alien….. yes. i think they are good with the whole support and ive learned more with there help then i could from a 3018 box job. it cost more but the support has been more than worth it. so yes there are cheaper options but you are in the cold if it goes wrong. i like the saftey they have offered. hope this helps someone else starting out with the fun of making anything you can come up with. ps hook up with the facebook support groups great bunch of guys and girls.

This CNC is a great machine for someone who’s never done CNC before. It has a few minor issues (Instruction manual are a bit weak) But I was able to get my test print running pretty quickly. Now as previous reviews have mentioned, Candle can be a bit wonky, especially if you’ve never done CNC before. But you just have to make sure you follow the instruction in the book. And if there’s an error, hit google or the facebook group up. This machine is not for the faint of heart . But if your willing to put the time into it, the only regret you’ll have is not getting the 4040XE because you’ll want a bigger machine!

This thing had me laughing through the whole assembly process. It took about 2 hours of tinkering with the adjustments to put this together. The acrylic panel mounts are out of alignment so I had to move them around to get a good seal and fitment. The pre-drills of the front panel are so small that they actually cracked slightly around the holes when I screwed the hinges on. More aesthetics than anything, but still, not expecting poor workmanship on something priced this high. The magnet is so weak that it doesn’t keep the door shut, had to add a neodymium magnet to make it work. Oh and also, foam, so much foam in the packaging. Other than that, the instructions are well written, pictures makes it super clear and straight forward.

Once all that was done, I booted it up and the machine was stuck in the alarm status, nothing would move. The way to get it going is to home the machine. It comes with 4 clamps which are a pain to run with on smaller work pieces. I saw in a video that there was vices available, which seem like the wiser option but at a hefty 80$. The V bits included are good enough to get you started, sizes are 0.70, 0.75, 0.80 x4, 0.85, 1.00, 1.200 and the last one is unmarked so I’m not sure what it is. So far I am pretty new to CNC and haven’t done much with it aside from engraving wood and a lighter. I believe it’s a good machine to start learning though as it’s not outrageously priced and it can do quite a bit given you have the correct bits. The fact that there’s an enclosure is perfect for beginners like me as I won’t have flying shards going about the room if something were to snap.